Environmental Justice Tools and Evaluation

In partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Conservation Training Center, the National CASC presents a webinar series on the intersection between climate and environmental justice and environmental research.

This webinar's speakers are:

Lori Peek is director of the Natural Hazards Center and professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is recipient of the Fred Buttel Distinguished Contribution Award for Environmental Sociology. In 2021, she was nominated by President Joseph Biden and approved by the U.S. Senate to serve on the Board of the National Institute of Building Sciences.

Peek’s research is currently funded by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Geological Survey, Andrew A. Mellon Foundation, and Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies. She has conducted field investigations in the aftermath of several major disasters and recently testified before members of the U.S. Congress on the topic of Ensuring Equity in Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery.

Leila Darwish is a community organizer, bioremediation educator, author, and disaster response and recovery worker with a deep commitment to providing accessible and transformative tools for communities dealing with the toxic contamination of their lands and waters and responding to natural and environmental disasters. Her work is rooted in environmental and social justice, inspired by the power of community action, mutual aid, and regenerative earth repair.

Over the last decade, she has worked as a community organizer for different environmental justice organizations and community groups in Canada and the USA on a variety of climate justice and watershed protection campaigns. She currently works in the field of emergency management, disaster resilience and disaster recovery, supporting communities on the frontlines of climate chaos.